07/18/2022
If we choose to follow the world over Yahweh the God of Abraham, then the fallen person within us, that we have chosen, will most certainly become who we are once again. Do we seek the false treasures, pleasures, and happiness that the world has to offer us over all that God desires to give us, and to do in our lives? Were we once focused on the Lord, only to have our hearts cool towards Him, and have we turned back towards the easy way, and those things that drove our lives before we first came to know Jesus? Are we no longer adhering to God’s commandments… only seeking what pleases the fallen man, or woman, within us rather than the suffering heart of Jesus that picking up our cross, and following Him requires? Well, God looks for those whose hearts are blameless, and only in Christ can we become pure.
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him. You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.””
2 Chronicles 16:9 ESV
It is easy to become placated by worldly things, and to lose sight of the harm they do to our faith, and the pain they inflict upon our souls. It is easy to justify in our minds those things that feel good to our bodies, yet harm our spirits, and to place them above Jesus, who, by His life, death, and resurrection, has led us to the forgiveness of our sin, and then tells us to put those sins, and all that spawned them, behind us.
“Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.””
Matthew 19:21 ESV
When it comes to sin we are much like this story of the rich young man who strove to be righteous, and to become eternal. He obeyed God’s laws, but he just couldn’t let go of those worldly things that gave him pleasure, and were in essence his one true god. We ask God for forgiveness, and eternity, but once forgiven we can’t walk away from what led us to our sin in the first place. We want to remember them because their memory brings us pleasure… and we convince ourselves that thoughts are harmless, but in the end, those memories will lead us back to the selfsame sins that chained us to the world in the first place. Frequenting the memory of past sinful pleasure woos us, and tempts us.
There was a young man who loved a woman, and he knew her outside of wedlock, but she found another, and ended their relationship. Later in life he fell in love with a righteous woman, and married her, but despite his love for his new wife, he couldn’t put the memory of the lust filled days with the first woman behind him. Over time that memory of his past sin ate away at the righteous relationship he was now living with his wife, and he fell back into the sin of adultery. This is the same sin that many experience in pornography, and it too can destroy relationships and marriages. The memories, or pleasurable thoughts of sin are just as harmful as the physical acts of committing sin, so we must put these thoughts behind us. We must strive to do as Jesus commanded… go and sin no more.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7 ESV
We choose to believe in God and to follow Jesus, and in so doing we are forgiven our sin, but how do we overcome the memories and thoughts of our past life? How do we replace the mental temptations, that will lead us back into physical sin? We do so with righteous thoughts. How do we insure that peace rules our hearts, minds, and bodies? We do so by starting with our minds… we fill the empty space with righteous thoughts, crowd out the past memories with honorable thoughts, and finally, we suppress the acts of sin by filling our days doing those things we see Jesus doing.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:8-9 ESV
So God looks for us to be without sin, blameless, and pure of heart, but this is a struggle for us. Our pursuit of righteousness is continuous in nature, our journey of faith is endless, and our fight against sin, and the remembrance of sin is not a skirmish, but a war. Each morning our prayers should begin anew, and fill our day. At night, before we slip off to sleep, our prayers should be for God to guard our thoughts and dreams, and fill them with righteous memories of our day spent with Jesus, and our thoughts of Him. Are we ready to fight the good fight, pray without ceasing, and fill every moment of our day and night with holy thoughts and deeds? If we are, then eternity will be the vehicle of our reward, and being in the presence of God as the heir and joint heir with Christ will be the blessed treasure within.
“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
1 John 2:17 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for your Son Jesus who was born, lived, suffered, died, and was resurrected to redeem us from sin. Help us to love you father, to be true to you always, and help us to go and sin no more as Jesus has commanded us. Give us the strength we need Lord to resist all sin, and temptation. Help us in our struggle against the memories of our past transgressions, and to separate them from us as far as the east is from the west. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent your son to be both man and god. Praised be your name for knowing our thoughts, and for the intercession of Jesus and your Holy Spirit in them. Merciful are you to provide us with brothers and sisters in Christ to bolster our righteous resolve, and to fill our minds with thoughts of you. Wash us clean, moment by precious moment, with the blood of Christ. Let your grace rain down on us and cover us… even during those times when our minds wander to places we should not visit as your children. Make us pure as Jesus is pure, and see only His face, and not ours, when we stand before you in judgement. Seat us at your table forevermore, and call us your eternal, and holy children.
Rich Forbes